UN General Assembly Resolutions:
Resolution 50/29

(December 6, 1995)

Section A of this resolution, another
traditional anti-Israel weapon, failed to win the
required two-thirds majority. It was adopted by
69 in favor, 2 against (Israel and the U.S.) with
80 abstentions. However, the three remaining
sections were adopted by a large majority.
Section B: 147 in favor, 2 against, 4
abstentions. Section C: 144 in favor, 2 against,
7 abstentions. Section D: 139 for, 1 against, 13
abstentions.

The General Assembly,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations,

Guided also by the principles of international
humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva
Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, as
well as international standards of human rights,
in particular the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the International Covention on Human
Rights.

Recalling its relevant resolutions, including
resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968, and
relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human
Rights,

Having considered the reports of the Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices
Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian
People and Other Arabs of the Occupied
Territories and the relevant reports of the
Secretary-General,

Noting the signing of the Declaration of
Principles on Interim Self-Government
Arrangements, including its Annexes and its
Agreed Minutes, by the Government of the State of
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
at Washington, D.C., on 13 September 1993, as
well as the subsequent implementation agreements,
including the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the
Jericho Area signed at Cairo on 4 May 1994 and
the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip signed on 28 September 1995,

Expressing the hope that, with the programs of
the peace process, the Israeli occupation will be
brought to an end and therefore violation of the
human rights of the Palestinian people will
cease,

1. Commends the Special Committee to
Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human
Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs
of the Occupied Territories for its efforts in
performing the tasks assigned to it by the
General Assembly and for its impartiality;

2. Demands that Israel cooperate with the
Special Committee in implementing its mandate;

3. Deplores those policies and practices of
Israel which violate the human rights of the
Palestinian people and other Arabs of the
occupied territories, as reflected in the reports
of the Special Committee covering the reporting
period;

4. Expresses the hope that, in the light of
the recent positive political developments, those
policies and practices will be brought to an end
immediately;

5. Requests the Special Committee, pending
complete termination of the Israeli occupation,
to continue to investigate Israeli policies and
practices in the occupied Palestinian territory,
including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories
occupied by Israel since 1967, to consult, as
appropriate, with the International Committee of
the Red Cross according to its regulations in
order to ensure that the welfare and human rights
of the peoples of the occupied territories are
safeguarded and to report to the
Secretary-General as soon as possible and
whenever the need arises thereafter;

6. Also requests the Special Committee to
submit regularly to the Secretary-General
periodic reports on the current situation in the
occupied Palestinian territory;

7. Further requests the Special Committee to
continue to investigate the treatment of
prisoners in the occupied Palestinian territory,
including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories
occupied by Israel since 1967;

8. Requests the Secretary-General:

(a) To provide all necessary facilities to the
Special Committee, including those required for
its visits to the occupied territories, so that
it may investigate the Israeli policies and
practices referred to in the present resolution;

(b) To continue to make available such
additional staff as may be necessary to assist
the Special Committee in the performance of its
tasks;

(c) To circulate regularly to Member States
the periodic reports mentioned in paragraph 6
above;

(d) To ensure the widest circulation of the
reports of the Special Committee and of
information regarding its activities and
findings, by all means available, through the
Department of Public Information of the
Secretariat and, where necessary, to reprint
those reports of the Special Committee that are
no longer available;

(e) To report to the General Assembly at its
fifty-first session on the tasks entrusted to him
in the present resolution;

9. Decides to include in the provisional
agenda of its fifty-first session the item
entitled "Report of the Special Committee to
Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human
Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs
of the Occupied Territories".

B

The General Assembly,

Recalling its relevant resolutions,

Bearing in mind the relevant resolutions of
the Security Council,

Having considered the reports of the Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices
Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian
People and Other Arabs of the Occupied
Territories and the relevant reports of the
Secretary-General,

Considering that the promotion of respect for
the obligations arising from the Charter of the
United Nations and other instruments and rules of
international law is among the basic purposes and
principles of the United Nations,

Stressing that Israel, the occupying Power,
should comply strictly with its obligations under
international law,

1. Reaffirms that the Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in
Time of War, of 12 August 1949, is applicable to
the occupied Palestinian territory, including
Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by
Israel since 1967;

2. Demands that Israel accept the de jure
applicability of the Convention in the occupied
Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and
other Arab territories occupied by Israel since
1967, and that it comply scrupulously with the
provisions of the Convention;

3. Calls upon all States parties to the
Convention, in accordance with article 1 common
to the four Geneva Conventions, to exert all
efforts in order to ensure respect for its
provisions by Israel, the occupying Power, in the
occupied Palestinian territory, including
Jerusalem, and other Arab territories occupied by
Israel since 1967;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to report to
the General Assembly at its fifty-first session
on the implementation of the present resolution.

C

The General Assembly,

Recalling its relevant resolutions and the
resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights,

Bearing in mind the relevant resolutions of
the Security Council, the most recent of which is
resolution 904 (1994) of 18 March 1994,

Having considered the reports of the Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices
Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian
People and Other Arabs of the Occupied
Territories and the reports of the
Secretary-General,

Aware of the responsibility of the
international community to promote human rights
and ensure respect for international law,

Reaffirming the principle of the
inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory
by force,

Reaffirming also the applicability of the
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August
1949, to the occupied Palestinian territory,
including Jerusalem, and other Arab territories
occupied by Israel since 1967,

Welcoming the signing of the Declaration of
Principles on Interim Self-Government
Arrangements, including its Annexes and its
Agreed Minutes, by the Government of the State of
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
at Washington, D.C., on 13 September 1993,"
as well as the subsequent implementation
agreements, including the Agreement on the Gaza
Strip and the Jericho Area signed at Cairo on 4
May 1994 and the Interim Agreement on the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip signed on 28 September
1995,

Noting the withdrawal of the Israeli army,
which took place in the Gaza Strip and the
Jericho area in accordance with the agreements
reached between the parties, and the initiation
of the Palestinian Authority in those areas,

Concerned about the continuing violation of
the human rights of the Palestinian people by
Israel, the occupying Power, especially in the
use of collective punishment, closure of areas,
annexation and establishment of settlements, and
the continuing actions by it designed to change
the legal status, geographical nature and
demographic composition of the occupied
Palestinian territory,

Concerned in particular about the dangerous
situation resulting from actions taken by the
illegal, armed Israeli settlers in the occupied
territory, as illustrated by the massacre of
Palestinian worshippers by an illegal Israeli
settler in Al-Khalil on 25 February 1994,

Convinced of the positive impact of a
temporary international or foreign presence in
the occupied Palestinian territory for the safety
and protection of the Palestinian people,

Expressing appreciation to the countries that
participated in the Temporary International
Presence in Hebron for their positive
contribution,

Convinced of the need for the full
implementation of Security Council resolution 904
(1994),

1. Determines that all measures and actions
taken by Israel, the occupying Power, in the
occupied Palestinian territory, including
Jerusalem, in violation of the relevant
provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War, of 12 August 1949, and contrary to the
relevant resolutions of the Security Council are
illegal and have no validity, and demands that
Israel desist forthwith from taking any such
measures or actions;

2. Reaffirms in particular that the Israeli
settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territory, including Jerusalem, and the other
Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967
are illegal and an obstacle to achieving
comprehensive peace;

3. Notes with satisfaction the return of a
number of deportees to the occupied Palestinian
territory, and calls upon Israel to facilitate
the return of the remainder;

4. Calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to
accelerate the release of all remaining
Palestinians arbitrarily detained or imprisoned,
in line with agreements reached;

5. Calls for complete respect by Israel, the
occupying Power, of all fundamental freedoms of
the Palestinian people, pending the extension of
the self-government arrangements to the rest of
the West Bank;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to report to
the General Assembly at its fifty-first session
on the implementation of the present resolution.

D

The General Assembly.

Deeply concerned that the Syrian Golan
occupied since 1967 has been under continued
Israeli military occupation,

Recalling Security Council resolution 497
(1981) of 17 December 1981, Recalling also its
previous relevant resolutions, the last of which
was 49/36 D of 9 December 1994,

Having considered the report of the
Secretary-General of 20 October 1995, Recalling
further its previous relevant resolutions in
which, inter alia, called upon Israel to put an
end to its occupation of the Arab territories,

Reaffirming once more the illegality of the
decision of 14 December 1981 taken by Israel to
impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration
on the occupied Syrian Golan, which has resulted
in the effective annexation of that territory,

Reaffirming that the acquisition of territory
by force is inadmissible under the Charter of the
United Nations,

Reaffirming also the applicability of the
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August
1949, to the occupied Syrian Golan,

Bearing in mind Security Council resolution
237 (1967) of 14 June 1967, Welcoming the
convening at Madrid of the Peace Conference on
the Middle East on the basis of Security Council
resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and
338 (1973) of 22 October 1973 aimed at the
realization of a just, comprehensive and lasting
peace, and stressing the need for rapid progress
in all bilateral negotiations,

1. Calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to
comply with the relevant resolutions on the
occupied Syrian Golan, in particular Security
Council resolution 497 (1981), in which the
Council, inter alia, decided that the Israeli
decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and
administration on the occupied Syrian Golan was
null and void and without international legal
effect, and demanded that Israel, the occupying
Power, should rescind forthwith its decisions;

2. Also calls upon Israel to desist from
changing the physical character, demographic
composition, institutional structure and legal
status of the occupied Syrian Golan and in
particular to desist from the establishment of
settlements;

3. Determines that all legislative and
administrative measures and actions taken or to
be taken by Israel, the occupying Power, that
purport to alter the character and legal status
of the occupied Syrian Golan are null and void,
constitute a flagrant violation of international
law and of the Geneva Convention relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of
12 August 1949, and have no legal effect;

4. Further calls upon Israel to desist from
imposing Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity
cards on the Syrian citizens in the occupied
Syrian Golan, and to desist from its repressive
measures against the population of the occupied
Syrian Golan;

5. Deplores the violations by Israel of the
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August
1949;

6. Calls once again upon Member States not to
recognize any of the legislative or
administrative measures and actions referred to
above;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to report to
the General Assembly at its fifty-first session
on the implementation of the present resolution.